Angel of Liberty
by Aceboizor
Summary: The Statue of Liberty is actually a Weeping Angel! And on 9/11/01 when everyone is looking the other way, the Angel of Liberty vanishes. Can the Doctor and Donna get it back?
1. The Disappearance

"And this, Donna, is the Statue of Liberty

"And this, Donna, is the Statue of Liberty!" The Doctor said, gesturing grandly toward the tall statue situated across the water on Liberty Island.

"That's it?" Donna said, tilting her head. The Doctor threw her a look. "I just thought it'd be bigger! Sorry if I offended you, your Timeliness," she said sarcastically, holding her hands up in mock terror.

"As I was saying," the Doctor continued, still glaring at her, "this was a gift from the French in the year 1886 as a gesture of friendship between the two countries. It was sculpted by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and stands here as a way to greet immigrants and visitors to America. Also—"

"Oh will you zip it? I went to school you know! We learned about America and all it's wonders, so can you tell me something useful? For instance, what is today's date?"

"Today, Donna Noble, is a day of great tragedy in this country. If you'd turn around, you'll see those two tall skyscrapers. They were the World Trade Towers."

"Were?"

At that moment, the sound of an airplane engine filled their ears as the aircraft soared straight into one of the towers.

"Oh my God!" Donna exclaimed, her face contorted in total shock. She watched as smoke and fire escaped in large quantities from the building. Screams filled the streets as people ran frantically. Mobile phones were whipping out right and left as people called their loved ones.

"Doctor, do something! There are people in that building!" Donna shouted over the yelling.

"I can't. It's a fixed point in history. This had to happen. I'm sorry." The Doctor watched, a solemn look on his face. He sighed.

The minutes passed as though in slow motion. Time seemed to have stopped, but the Doctor knew better. He grimaced as the sound of the second aircraft filled the air and the rumble of the explosion as it hit the second tower. Donna's eyes filled with tears as the screaming grew louder. She couldn't watch anymore. She turned away from the sight and looked out over the water.

"Um, Doctor?" Donna said slowly.

"Yes?" the Doctor said, not looking away from the smoking towers.

"Where is the Statue of Liberty?"


	2. Remembering the Past

The Doctor whipped around, squinting over the water where the morning sun was reflected. Sure enough, the statue had disappeared.

"Oh no," the Doctor mumbled under his breath. "This wasn't supposed to happen."

"Well duh! Of course this wasn't supposed to happen. I mean, how often does a giant statue just get up and walk away?" Donna countered.

"Whenever no one is looking at it," the Doctor replied seriously, running a hand through his hair.

"Excuse me?" Donna said, a hand on her hip.

"Donna," the Doctor said, turning sharply to face her. "You need to listen very closely to what I am about to say."

"Oh no you don't! Last time you said that you teleported me to the TARDIS, which may I remind you, did NOT turn out very well, so—"

"Donna! Listen to me! I'm not trying to trick you! The Statue of Liberty is not actually a statue!" the Doctor said loudly to cover up Donna's ramblings.

"-What?" Donna said, stopping to give the Doctor a confused look.

"There are these creatures, these beings known as Weeping Angels. They take on the appearance of a statue only when you are looking at it. If you blink, if you look away, if you turn your back for just one second, Donna…that's when they can move. They move faster than lightning. One touch, and they will zap you into the past, and all of the energy you would have used for the rest of your life is what they feed off of. And the Statue of Liberty is one of these. It was the best of its kind long ago, and it needed to be dealt with. So I placed it here on Liberty Island where eyes would be on it at every single moment and it could never move again. But now, everyone is looking the other way at the twin towers, and it is free again."

The Doctor and Donna stared at each other in silence as the sound of the first tower crashing down to the ground filled the air.

"Well isn't that wizard," Donna whispered. "So what are we going to do?"

The Doctor smiled widely at her determined response before taking off toward the shoreline. Donna struggled to keep up with his ridiculously fast pace. His trench coat blew in the wind, making it easy for Donna to keep an eye on where he was. But by the time she caught up, the Doctor was already standing at a large booth where people could rent boats for sailing.

"Excuse me, miss, I need to borrow one of your boats to get to Liberty Island as quickly as possible," the Doctor was saying as Donna leaned against the booth to catch her breath.

"Um, sir? If you haven't noticed, the World Trade Centers are—"

At that moment, the second tower fell.

"Oh my God! Grace! The second one just fell!" the woman shouted. She was a tall, thin woman in her twenties with short black hair and brilliant green eyes. Donna resisted the urge to laugh at her resemblance to Harry Potter.

Another woman, clearly Grace, stood from a chair in the corner of the room. She had blonde cropped hair and was also thin and in her twenties. She crossed over to the window to see that the twin towers were no longer standing.

"I knew something like this would happen. Our government is so inefficient," Grace said, shaking her head sadly.

"I—I think I dreamt this," the woman with the black hair said slowly. "Yeah…I dreamt this last night! Oh my gosh."

Silence.

"Anyway, not to interrupt you two, but I need to get to Liberty Island right away," the Doctor said.

"Why the hell do you want to go to Liberty Island?" Grace asked.

"Well, if you haven't noticed, the Statue of Liberty is missing," the Doctor said calmly.

Grace and Angela looked at each other before running out of the booth to look out over the water.

"Holy shit!" Grace exclaimed, staring at the empty space where the statue once stood.

"So if you don't mind, I need a boat," the Doctor said again.

"Why? What are you expecting to find there? The statue is gone," Grace argued.

The Doctor sighed. "It's a long and complicated story. I just need you to lend me a boat."

"What's your name?" Angela asked, speaking for the first time since she had seen the lack of statue.

"He's the Doctor. I am Donna," Donna said.

"Doctor who?" Grace asked, looking skeptical.

"Just the Doctor," he responded.

"Oh my gosh…" Angela said, her eyes widening as she stared at the Doctor.

"What?" Donna said, looking at the two of them.

"It's you," she whispered.

"I'm sorry?" the Doctor said.

"You! You're the Doctor!" Angela exclaimed. "Don't you remember? You came here with your companion, Martha, in 1930! You defeated the Daleks at the Empire State Building!"

"How does she know about Daleks?" Donna muttered to the Doctor.

"How do you know all this, Angela?" the Doctor asked quietly.

"You were at Hooverville. You met my grandfather, Frank."

A look of pure realization struck the Doctor's face.

"He spoke so highly of you. You saved his life," Angela continued. "He told me about the Dalek's secret plan, how you stopped them. You risked your life for the sake of mankind! You climbed out onto the top of the Empire State Building during that thunderstorm! Frank thought you had gotten killed when they found you lying up there.

"He spoke to Martha at one point about who you are. You travel the Universe, through time and space, to places I can't even imagine. And you're a hero," she finished, unable to keep the sense of awe from her voice. The she blushed slightly. "You were my bedtime story."

Silence fell upon the foursome.

"Anyway," Angela piped up again. "To sum this all up, I trust you, Doctor. Call it family tradition if you must. Although I was the only one who ever believed Frank. But the point is if you need a boat to get to Liberty Island, I will provide the best." She turned and began walking with long strides onto the dock. The Doctor and Donna followed closely, Grace trailing behind, looking stunned at the turn of events.

Angela began preparing one of the boats.

"Angela," the Doctor said quietly, standing close to her so no one would overhear. "How many details did your grandfather put into the story?"

Angela grinned. "Every single one." Her grin turned mischievous. "Including your promise to let him kiss you for coming to rescue him."

The Doctor stumbled on the dock, Donna catching him before he could fall. He cleared his throat. "He told you all that, did he?"

"Yup." Angela turned to the boat she had been standing in front of. "She's our fastest," Angela said proudly. "I call her 'the Rose.' "

The Doctor stopped short, all thoughts of Frank forgotten.

"Doctor?" Donna said, putting a hand on his shoulder. The Doctor nodded and continued, stepping onto the Rose without further hesitation.

Once the four of them were on board, Angela and Grace crewed the boat and they set sail toward Liberty Island. The Doctor and Donna took their seats at the very front of the boat.

"Doctor, what just happened? Who is Frank?" Donna asked.

"I was here once with Martha, a companion from the past. We landed in 1930 during the Great Depression. Frank was living in Hooverville when we arrived. Some people in Hooverville had been disappearing, so we went to find out why. It turns out Daleks were behind it. They were using the humans building the Empire State Building to secretly begin creating their own species. They were the last four Daleks in the Universe. The Cult of Skaro, they called themselves. They took Dalek DNA and put it into human bodies. But I got in the way. My Time Lord DNA got mixed up inside them, and they began to fight back. They destroyed three of the four Daleks, leaving only one, who escaped. And Frank helped myself and Martha. He was a good kid."

"And she's his granddaughter?" Donna asked.

"Oh yeah. I can see it in her eyes," the Doctor answered.

"You look that closely to people's eyes?" Donna joked.

"Oh of course!," the Doctor said excitedly. "Eyes can tell you a lot about a person. You can tell if they are telling the truth or if they are lying to you. You can—"

"Alright, alright, Doctor! I was only joking!" The Doctor gave her a look.

"We're almost there," Grace called. The Doctor and Donna turned to see Liberty Island, the base of the Statue of Liberty looking rather lonely in the morning sun.

As they parked the boat, the Doctor leapt out and began running toward the base. Everyone had been evacuated off the island, which meant someone had noticed the lack of statue.

"Does he always run like this?" Angela asked Donna as they ran after the Doctor.

"Oh yeah," Donna said, shaking her head.

Angela smiled before picking up the pace and catching up to the Doctor. They soon found themselves standing on the base of the Statue of Liberty. Donna and Grace joined them soon thereafter.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and knelt to the floor of the foundation. He crawled along to different spots, keeping his ear close to the ground as the three ladies watched him.

"He's got a nice arse," Grace said nonchalantly.

"Oi!" exclaimed the Doctor, Donna, and Angela at the same time, Angela taking the time to punch Grace softly on the arm. Grace faked being hurt until the Doctor spoke again.

"Aha! I've got it!" he half shouted.

"Got what, Doctor?" Donna said, hurrying up beside him.

"I've got the signal," he said, holding his sonic screwdriver steadily in one direction. He looked up. "Uh oh."

"What?" Donna said, looking in the direction the Doctor was. It was all water.

"It went out over the ocean."


	3. Going Inside

"The ocean?" Grace said, looking confused.

"Well, if I did this right, I've used my sonic screwdriver to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow to freeze the statue in its tracks. It should be hovering over the Atlantic Ocean waiting for us."

"Waiting for us to what?" Donna said.

"The only weakness about this particular Weeping Angel is the fact that it's hollow. So if we can get inside, I should be able to manipulate the interior at the head of the statue to destroy the spirit of the Angel so it is just the shell of it left over."

"You're going to kill it?" Donna said.

The Doctor looked intently at her before running back toward the boat, sonic screwdriver still in hand and pointed in the direction of the statue.

They got back into the boat and Angela and Grace began to sail out to open sea at full throttle. The Doctor sat at the very front of the boat, the blue light of his screwdriver blinking rapidly. He frowned in concentration.

After twenty minutes of sailing, Donna began asking questions.

"Are you sure you have the right trail? How do you know?"

"I just do, Donna. Time Lord, remember?" he replied, not once taking his eyes off the horizon.

"There!" Grace cried. She pointed straight ahead to what looked like a shadow on the water. Angela pushed the boat faster as the shape grew in size. As they drew closer, the distinct shape of the Statue of Liberty came into view.

"Alright, listen to me, you three. Donna and I are going to go inside and deal with this thing. I need you two to stay out here and keep an eye on the statue. Once I let go with my sonic screwdriver, it is free to move with us inside if no one is watching from the outside. Do you understand me?"

"No way. I want to go inside," Angela said, looking determined.

"Absolutely not," the Doctor said. "Donna and I know what we're dealing with."

"Exactly. So what happens if something goes wrong out here on the boat. What if an alien appears out here. What if this Weeping Angel is not alone? What if they are plotting something? What are Grace and I supposed to do then?"

The Doctor stopped to think.

"She's right. We don't know if it's alone. Donna, stay out here with Grace."

"What! No way! I'm coming with you!" Donna exploded.

"Donna, I don't want two innocent people to die. You can do this. I trust you." The Doctor looked intently at Donna, who then sighed.

"Fine. But hurry, will you?"

"Here," Angela said, holding out two walkie-talkies. "We can use these in case something goes wrong." She gave one to Grace and clipped the other on her belt.

"Angela," she said quietly. "Please don't go."

She and Angela walked to another part of the boat to talk.

"Doctor, why are you taking her with you? Really?" Donna said, staring him down.

"Because I owe Frank," he said softly. Then he turned to Donna. "And I know you can do this. We've worked separately before."

"Okay, okay! Sheesh." But she smiled to show everything was alright. They embraced and turned to see where Angela and Grace had gone.

They saw the two ladies talking quietly in a corner. Then Angela smiled and leaned in to kiss Grace on the cheek. Donna's eyebrows rose. She turned to the Doctor, but he was looking at the looming statue connected by an invisible beam to his screwdriver. Grace resumed her place at the wheel and brought the boat closer to the base of the statue. With extreme precision and skill, she pulled the boat gently to the very edge, where the Doctor and Angela stepped out of the boat and onto the bottom of the statue. The climbed quickly and carefully to the entrance door while Grace and Donna pulled the boat away to keep a good eye on the statue.

"Alright," the Doctor spoke into the walkie-talkie. "I'm letting go of the connection. You can't blink, look away, or turn your back. Got that?"

"Yes, sir!" Donna replied, the crackle of the walkie-talkie muffling her slightly.

"Alons-y!"

The Doctor and Angela found the entrance and walked inside. Angela looked up.

"We have a lot of stairs to climb, Doctor," she said, her voice echoing inside the hollow statue.

"That we do, Angela. That we do."

* * *

Meanwhile, out on the boat, Donna and Grace had just let the anchor down to keep them stable. They sat down to watch the statue. It was so odd to see the Statue of Liberty hovering inches above the Atlantic Ocean.

"So, Donna, how did you meet the Doctor?" Grace asked conversationally.

"Do you want the whole story or the shortened version?"

"Well, it looks like we've got a while. Whole story."

"Alright, well, it all started at my wedding…"

* * *

The Doctor and Angela climbed the stairs at a steady pace so they wouldn't keel over half way up.

"So Angela, tell me about yourself," the Doctor said.

Angela chuckled. "Asides from the fact that I'm Frank's granddaughter you mean?" She paused on the step she was on. The Doctor stopped too. Angela looked him straight in the eye. "I guess you'll just have to find out. We have a job to do." She set off again on the steps, the Doctor staring after her until she said, "Are you coming?" He hurried to catch up.

* * *

"Then we came here to witness 9/11 here in New York and obviously you know what's happened. It's been quite the adventure, and I'm actually rather surprised you're taking me seriously. If I listened to myself, I would think I'm daft," Donna finished.

"No, I'm actually quite jealous. I wish I had an exciting life like that. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love what I do, but that just sounds extraordinary," Grace said.

"It is. Anything with the Doctor is extraordinary."

"So tell me, Donna. If you come from the future, you know what happens here. I mean, to me, the planes just hit the towers. But what happens to our country after this?" Grace inquired.

Donna hesitated. "I'm not sure I should tell you."

"Oh go on!" Grace encouraged, fighting the urge to take her eyes of the Statue of Liberty. At that moment, the walkie-talkie sounded.

"Donna? Grace?" It was the Doctor.

"I've got it!" Donna and Grace said together, lunging for the walkie-talkie at the same time.

"No!" Donna shouted. They had looked away. She snapped her head back up to find the Statue of Liberty now hovering much further away. It had moved.

"Oh shit," Grace muttered.

"Doctor?" Donna said hesitantly into the walkie-talkie, not daring to blink. "Are you alright?"

There was a moan from the walkie-talkie.

"What happened?" the Doctor moaned.

"Um, well…we both went for the walkie-talkie at the same time and, well…it moved."

"Can you still see it?" the Doctor asked immediately.

"Yes, but it's pretty far away," Donna replied. "Are you alright in there?"

"Doctor, my leg is stuck," came Angela's voice.

"Hold on, don't move," said the Doctor. The walkie-talkie crackled and buzzed.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Donna asked.

"Angela, are you okay?" Grace said fervently.

"Yeah," came both their voices.

"We had just reached the top when the angel moved, and it knocked us down a trapdoor to a small maintenance area, and we're a little bit stuck," Angela replied. "Ouch, Doctor, that hurts!"

"Sorry, I've almost got it," he said in return. "Donna, you and Grace sail closer and keep watching the statue. We'll give you a progress report once we're unstuck."

"Okay. Please hurry," Donna said.

"Will do."

* * *

Inside of the statue, the Doctor and Angela had fallen through the trapdoor causing Angela to land on top of the Doctor. Her leg got tangled in some piping inside the statue and they couldn't move. The Doctor was working to untangle her leg.

"I've almost got it," the Doctor said. He was reaching awkwardly from underneath Angela when the statue jolted briefly. It caused him to fall back onto his back, his head bumping against the floor, and Angela to press further into him.

"Sorry!" came Donna's voice from the walkie-talkie. "I blinked!"

The Doctor sighed. "I—" he began to say, but he was cut off by Angela's lips meeting his. It lasted only a few short seconds, but it completely threw him.

Angela pulled her face away from his. "I thought I would make up your promise for my grandfather," she said simply, shrugging. The Doctor just stared at her, trying to regain his composure. In the time it took him to do that, Angela had wriggled her leg free.

"Alright, let's go!" she said, pushing herself up from the floor and extending her hand to the Doctor. He took it and allowed her to hoist him onto his feet.

"So what do we do?" she asked.

The Doctor shook his head slightly. "Right." And with that, he sprang into action. He whipped out his sonic screwdriver and ran to the nearest wall. He pressed himself against it, letting the little blue light blink repeatedly. He walked along the interior of the statue, pausing at certain points to examine more closely.

"Aha!" he exclaimed. Angela rushed over to him.

"What is it, Doctor?" she asked excitedly.

The Doctor ran his forefinger along the wall until it dipped into an indent. He pressed it, and part of the wall slid away.

"Hold this lever," he said. Angela stepped up and grabbed hold of a lever that had appeared from behind the wall. The Doctor ran over to the opposite side of the statue and repeated his motions. He took hold of the other lever. "On the count of three, push the lever down. Ready?"

Angela nodded.

"One, two, three!"

They pushed the levers down. Nothing happened.

"What?" the Doctor said softly. He released his lever and walked toward the center of the statue. Angela walked toward him.

"What happened?" Angela asked.

"I'm not sure," the Doctor replied, running a hand through his hair.

At that moment, steel bars came shooting up from the floor, surrounding the Doctor and Angela. They drew steadily closer, forcing the Doctor and Angela against each other. The bars stopped just a foot away from them. They stepped out to the bars to look around.

"What is this?" Angela asked, attempting to shake down the bars.

The Doctor grabbed the walkie-talkie from Angela's belt.

"Donna, listen closely. I need for you to send Grace up here as fast as you can."

"Why?" came Donna's reply.

"Tell her to be discreet and wait for my signal. We have a big problem."


	4. Trapped

As soon as the Doctor released the button on the walkie-talkie, a voice began to speak, echoing throughout the head of the statue.

"Doctor. How lovely to see you again," the voice said.

"Show yourself!" the Doctor said harshly.

An image of a beautiful young lady rose from the floor. She wore long white robes that made her look almost royal. Her face was captivating, and her voice was smoothe as velvet.

"My, how you've changed," she said, slowly approaching the bars.

"I wish I could say the same," the Doctor said, half to himself. He stared coldly at the image of the woman.

"Who is she?" Angela asked.

"That is the spirit of the Weeping Angel. She's vile and dangerous. Don't trust anything she says."

The spirit laughed a cold and high-pitched laugh. "Oh Doctor, how I could say the same about you."

Angela frowned in confusion. She looked at the Doctor to see his face set in a stony glare, only his eyes following the movements of the spirit.

"You were a hazard to the human race. I had to put you somewhere you could be contained."

"So why did you not kill me?" she spat, anger flaring in her golden eyes.

"Because I believe in second chances," he said coldly, stepping right up to the bars and staring defiantly at the spirit.

"Hm," she muttered thoughtfully. Then she turned on Angela. "And you, human girl. What brought you the misfortune of meeting this ungrateful Time Lord?"

"How dare you!" Angela shouted, lunging an arm through the bars to punch the spirit straight in the chest. However, her arm went through the spirit. Angela stared.

The spirit laughed before grabbing her arm and twisting it backward. Angela cried out in pain as she was forced against the bars.

"Stop! Don't hurt her!" the Doctor cried.

The spirit turned her head, considering his words.

"You have changed a great deal. You care too much. It is your weakness," the spirit said, not yet releasing Angela's arm.

"Let her go, please," the Doctor pleaded. The spirit gave him a wicked grin before releasing her grip.

Angela pulled herself away from the bars, backing into the Doctor as she clutched her arm.

"Is it broken?" the Doctor asked, gingerly placing his hands on her upper arm.

"No, I think it's fine," Angela replied, still gasping slightly. The Doctor examined her arm momentarily before dropping his hands.

At that moment, Grace appeared silently and stealthily at the top of the stairs. The spirit stood between them and the stairs, so she could not see the blonde woman crouching in the shadows.

"Well, I suppose we'll just have to _wait_ until you tell us what's going on," the Doctor said slightly louder than before. Grace froze in her tracks, clearly picking up on the Doctor's reference to her.

"Well, seeing as you're the only person here who knows how to fully defeat me, I'd say you'll be behind those bars for quite some time," the spirit said, now walking casually around the bars, visibly relaxed as she gazed about the interior of the statue.

"I'd better get comfortable then," he replied, sitting himself down on the floor. "Angela, will you join me?" The Doctor extended his hand to help her down, but instead hitting her hard on her sore arm.

Angela screamed in pain as she fell to the floor, half on the Doctor. However, she did not say anything because she saw the Doctor fling his sonic screwdriver across the floor. It skidded to a halt at Grace's feet. Her scream was a cover.

"Oh, so sorry Angela," he said casually. "As I was saying, if only someone else were here to enter the self destruct code into the secret panel beneath each of the two levers. How silly of me to think the levers would do the trick."

"Yes, how silly of you," the spirit replied, a look of victory etched on her face.

"Oh yes, I must be getting old. I'm over 900 now, did you know? In fact, in just a few years, my age will be the same as your self-destruct code. _910_, am I correct? It's also yesterday's date. What a coincidence. The last day of your captivity…fascinating."

Grace began to move silently to the closest lever. The Doctor continued to ramble about meaningless stuff, occasionally throwing in warnings of the spirit's line of sight. Grace opened the panel with the sonic screwdriver and typed in the code. She closed the panel and crept slowly over to the other side of the statue. It seemed to take ages. Just as she opened the panel with the sonic screwdriver to type in the code, the spirit spotted her.

"NO!" the spirit screamed. She lunged for Grace, but instead of making contact with her, the spirit passed right through Grace's body, as though she were a ghost. Grace made no noise as she fell to the ground. She did not stir.

"Grace!" Angela cried, shaking the bars, desperate to get out.

"Doctor, do something!" Angela said, turning on him and grabbing the front of his suit.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Angela fell against him, sobbing into his chest. He held her tight, letting her cry.

"YOU!" Angela screamed suddenly. She leapt to her feet and grabbed the bars. "You killed her! You did this!"

"And was it not you who wanted to kill me in the first place?" the spirit retorted.

Angela glared at her, the full fury of her eyes boring into the spirit.

The Doctor lifted himself to his feet, putting a cautious hand on Angela's shoulder. She sagged and let the Doctor take over.

"What if I let you free?" the Doctor said quietly.

The spirit turned sharply to face the Doctor. "What did you say?"

"Let us go, and I will let you go free."

"Doctor, no! You can't! She's dangerous!" Angela exclaimed softly, not having the energy to shout anymore.

"What do you say?" The Doctor stared intently at the spirit.

"I believe I'll take your offer," the spirit responded. She lifted her hands in the air and the bars disappeared.

Angela sprinted over to Grace's body, tears spilling uncontrollably. The Doctor crossed quickly over to her.

"Come on, it's time to go," he said, trying to pull Angela to her feet, but she clung to Grace's body. "There's nothing we can do, Angela."

As Angela rose to her feet, an evil cackle filled the room. Everything went dark.

"Foolish Time Lord! You think you can outsmart the queen of the Weeping Angels!" The statue jolted this way and that.

"What happened to Donna?" the Doctor shouted.

"One woman can only keep her eyes open for so long!" the spirit cackled gleefully.

"You promised to let us go!" he yelled, trying to keep a hand on Angela to know where she was.

"I LIED!" the spirit screamed. The statue shook violently, knocking the Doctor to the floor. There was nothing that could be done. He did not have his sonic screwdriver. They were done for.


	5. From Death to Life

There was an ear-piercing scream. The Doctor had to cover his ears for fear of losing his hearing. He squeezed his eyes shut and hoped it would pass.

Then as suddenly as it began, it stopped. The Doctor opened his eyes slightly to find that light had returned to the room. He opened his eyes wider and removed his hands from his ears. He rose unsteadily to his feet and glanced around the room.

Standing at the second panel, sonic screwdriver in hand, was Grace. She smiled widely. The Doctor stared at her before returning the grin.

"Grace, you did it!" he cried, rushing over to her and embracing her. They laughed in relief that it was all over.

After a victorious moment, the Doctor and Grace pulled apart, Grace handing the sonic screwdriver back to its rightful owner. They turned to find Angela standing nearby, staring unbelievingly at Grace.

"You-you're alive!" she gasped. Grace smiled, and the two of them ran together, embracing, letting the tears spill. "I thought you were gone, I thought you were dead! How did you—" but before Angela could finish her sentence, Grace cut her off by locking their lips together in a passionate kiss.

The Doctor let a small smile cross his features before looking politely away.

Suddenly, Grace inhaled sharply. "Donna!"

Their eyes widened, and they took off down the stairs. They made it to the bottom, heaving in gulps of air.

They blinked, confused.

They were back on Liberty Island!

"The statue must have reconnected to the base, bringing it back to the island," the Doctor said. They all looked at each other, then broke down in laughter.

"Doctor!"

It was Donna. She came jogging up to the base of the statue, running straight into the Doctor's waiting arms. They laughed as they embraced.

"So what happened?" Donna asked after she pulled away from the Doctor.

The three of them groaned.

"I'll fill you in later, Donna," the Doctor said into her ear.

They walked back to the boat and sailed back to the mainland. As they drew close, the sound of sirens filled the air.

"Oh my God, I completely forgot about the World Trade Centers!" Angela gasped.

The foursome fell silent, letting the wailing of the sirens fill their ears. They walked onto shore and entered the booth, closing the door to cut off some of the noise.

"Thank you so much for everything you've done," the Doctor said. "We couldn't have done it without you."

"It was all Grace in the end," Angela said, placing a hand on Grace's knee.

"We wouldn't have even gotten to the island at all if you hadn't stepped in," Grace replied.

"Either way, we are so grateful, Doctor. And you too, Donna," Angela said, glancing out the window at the skyline of New York City. It looked so much emptier without the World Trade Centers.

Donna put a hand on each of their shoulders.

"It'll be alright in the end. Trust me," she whispered into their ears.

They all said their good-byes, and the Doctor and Donna made their way back to the TARDIS.

"Well, that turned out to be more than an observation visit then, didn't it?" Donna said lightly. The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS and held the door open for her.

"Welcome to my life," he replied.


End file.
